... growing and hybridizing all kinds of plants in zone 6b Maryland since the 1980's.

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Dark Kale

Last Spring I tried starting some of my kale lines that I'd been working towards combining glossy foliage and purple pigment. Between damping off and a thrips infestation, I lost everything that sprouted. I didn't throw out the pots though and just let them dry out and wait a while. Later in the summer, water leaked down into the pot from something I'd set on top and a new wave of germinations started. This was the biggest of those seedlings. I planted it in the ground last Fall and caged it to protect from the rabbit population boom. It got a lot of the purple-ness but is not a glossy. There are a few glossy siblings still under lights in the basement and also two of the seedlings look like they might be from pollen of the Tuscan kale I'd also been growing.